Out of curiosity, has anyone had any trouble remembering the events of the past day or the material learned during the past day when chronically lucid dreaming? (I haven't even begun lucid dreaming yet but I'd like to know if anyone has experienced such difficulties). Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your input!

Well, when I lucid dream, I remember major aspects of my day, it just doesn't concern me very much. I might follow through on what I planned to do, but I don't just sit around recalling my day. It's not relavent enough to the LD to ponder, but it's still there, and you mostly can remember. (I really hope that this helped you out.)

swimkid123 wrote:Out of curiosity, has anyone had any trouble remembering the events of the past day or the material learned during the past day when chronically lucid dreaming? (I haven't even begun lucid dreaming yet but I'd like to know if anyone has experienced such difficulties). Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your input!

Sincerely,Nick

I lucid dream every night, and have no trouble with memory. I'm not sure where you got the idea this can even happen, but I believe this does not happen to anyone and there is nothing wrong with chronic lucid dreaming.

Warning: this may have to be read twice to understand. I wrote it in a "stream of consciousness" style of writing - I apologize for that.

Thank you, everyone, for your input. LucidLink, the reason I ask is because I viewed a NOVA episode entitled "What are Dreams?" and I learned of the research of Dr. Stickgold, who asserts that dreaming (NREM dreaming to be precise) "refines the memory, it improves the memory, it makes the memory more useful for the future." So that got me thinking: If by lucid dreaming we take control of what our minds dream about, can we prevent ourselves from consolidating certain things that we have learned during the past day? The link to the episode is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNTLIv8JZA0 and the section that presents Dr. Stickgold's research is from 21:43 to 24:50.

However: once I read all the information I've found more closely and consolidated it, here is what I came up with:Dr. Matt Wilson stated in summation: "So the speculation is that during non-REM sleep the brain is taking the past and trying to figure out how that might relate to the future and, in REM, actually trying to experience the future, move into the future." ("What Are Dreams?" NOVA episode) So my worry was that if I, for instance, studied anatomy during the day and then went to sleep, lucid dreamt and woke up the next day, I may not remember (to an appreciable degree) what I had studied the night before. Dr. Stickgold remarked in 2009:"We don't know how to incorporate lucid dreaming into our models. Lucid dreaming, which involves being aware of the fact that you're dreaming while you dream, appears to be a state between REM sleep and waking. Regions of the prefrontal cortex, which control logical reasoning and executive decision-making and which are normally turned off during REM sleep, appear to be turned back on. This allows some lucid dreamers to gain partial control over the events in their dreams. But whether this would actually impair the normally automatic processing of memories, or instead allow the dreamer to control the memories to be processed is totally unknown. Check back in five years!" (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/stickgold-dreams.html)So, upon further research (which you all have inspired me to consolidate - thank you!), it appears that since lucid dreaming seems to appear between REM and waking (not during NREM which is when it is thought that our minds process memories during sleep) and it seems that REM is being untouched by lucid dreaming, I shouldn't be worried about the effect of lucid dreaming on my memory, even though the science still seems to lagging behind in definitive conclusions. Any thoughts on all of this anyone? Agree or disagree? (I apologize for pretty much writing a small essay!)

I don't think lucid dreaming can stop anyone from learning or be detrimental along those lines. From experience, it tends to have the opposite effect. It csn act as a sort of a booster.

Ultimately, even when you lucid dream you are not in control. Sure, you can wish for things and make them happen but you are either following a plan of action that you devised prior to bedtime or you are improvising according to how you are being swayed by emotions.

The same applies to waking life. Free will is an illusion. Your moods will always influence not to mention how our psyches can be affected by environments and events.

When we lucid dream, we are merely awake in the dream world. Like nonlucidity means lack of consciousness and this is bound to have its natural influence on dream plots, lucidity strengthens that illusion of control, to create order from chaos, to make sense of experience, and broadens the horizon to the great unconscious.

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"Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing, is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state. when not altering what is, allow it to be as it is, and the awakened state is right now spontaneously present."

Dr. Matt Wilson stated in summation: "So the speculation is that during non-REM sleep the brain is taking the past and trying to figure out how that might relate to the future and, in REM, actually trying to experience the future, move into the future." ("What Are Dreams?" NOVA episode)

Its only speculation of one person and nothing more. I cant see how he would have any idea of the above. Im wary of those who make extreme guesses on what is going on with no evidence at all to support those guesses.

"Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing, is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state. when not altering what is, allow it to be as it is, and the awakened state is right now spontaneously present."

Oh My God. That exact thing happened to me while I was on the brink of lucid dreams! I wouldnt remember some things at all, and others I would have trouble because I wouldnt know if it really happened or it was just a memory impresion. I ended up discovering which were the memory impressions, like this morning I thought: I need to buy shoes, oh wait, yesterday I bought some. A few hours later I discovered that it was just a memory impresion. Does that happen to you? maybe its common when you are learning how to lucid dream. Sorry not to have been any help.

artic65 wrote:Oh My God. That exact thing happened to me while I was on the brink of lucid dreams! I wouldnt remember some things at all, and others I would have trouble because I wouldnt know if it really happened or it was just a memory impresion. I ended up discovering which were the memory impressions, like this morning I thought: I need to buy shoes, oh wait, yesterday I bought some. A few hours later I discovered that it was just a memory impresion. Does that happen to you? maybe its common when you are learning how to lucid dream. Sorry not to have been any help.

Ive had dreams which have put false waking memories in my head before (adding extra events into my life.. note.. I dont loose waking memories thou). This can both happen with LDs and with normal dreams which are intense so heavily imprint on your consciousness.